Fri 18, Sat 19 Jan

A bit behind with my blog, never seems to be enough time to do everything! Friday we explored the shopping centers near the hotel, interrupting at noon to meet the agent from the rental car company to return the car..glad to get that out of the way!
It was really interesting at the shopping centre car park. Because they have so many people that visit this centre, they park nose to nose as we do but they also park one line in with parallel parking! Everyone locks their car but leaves the car in neutral with the parking brake off. If someone parks you in, the car park attendant helps you roll the car/cars so that you an leave or park. Imagine doing that in our car parks...alarms going off everywhere because cars are being moved, not to mention that our newer cars will only release the key in park!
Treated myself to a spa treatment in the afternoon, 2 1/2 hours of absolute bliss consisting of 5 spiced rub, hot oil massage finishing with a Thai herbal balm foot massage! I really get terrific after that!
Andrew had arrived from Mae Sot and Wendy from Chang Mai so we caught up for dinner at a Korean place ( might as well try all types of food while we are here!)
Sat was another adventure, we went to experience the Chatachuck markets, (only at the weekends). This place is huge, hard to really put a size on it but a few football fields would be dwarfed in it! They sell everything: cooked food, packaged food and food ingredients of all kinds, clothes, clothes and more clothes, small furniture, large furniture, animals for pets and everything you need to dress them and care for them, jewelry, hair accessories, hats, shoes...you name it and it is there! Best buy of the day...Converse shoes for Matt, 2 pairs high tops, two pairs low, total price $130. We shopped for nearly 5 hrs before we headed back to the hotel. Wendy and Andrew buy quite a bit, sell it in Aust to raise money for the school that they sponsor.
Sat night we celebrated Jan's birthday with a dinner cruise on the Manohra boat on the Chao Phraya River. What a memorable night. As we got to the pier there were some Thai dancers that we watched while we waited...so beautiful and serene. The boat was elegantly rustic and each of the seven courses was delicious. Advertised as authentic Thai meals...the roast duck with tamarind sauce was the hit of the night. All this while seeing the stunning lights of the city...what a way to spend the evening!